Two years: Questionable editorial neutrality and inconsistent diction

[Alwaysrun]

I've had many of the same thoughts as you Amon but I've resisted the urge to make any kind of public statements as I just contented myself to enable my built in information filter. Recently I've found many articles on HWC verbose to the enth degree and a new flowery prose injected into articles (for me at least) losses weight when I can regularly pick out at least 20 spelling and punctuation mistakes.

I still love the reviews, they are the most informative and easy to navigate I've found on the net. What I like most about the HWC reviews is that they review crappy hardware, It's not always a bowl of cherries here unlike many sites that only review top shelf products and it does my heart good to see reviewers skewer products that justfully deserve it.

Amon I think you made some good points and I commend you for the balls to voice what's on your mind. Open intelligent debate like this in my opinion a great way for the staff to get feedback and maybe make the site even better than it already is.

Squeetard and CMetaphore... I'm...well... 'nuff said.

[Squeetard]

Hey, i was drunk last night. But, that whole OP was just plain stupid. His example of how to clean up the review was worse than the original. Pompously pontificating, couldn't have said it better. He should go get a job at Harpers. And someone should hide his thesaurus.

[FiXT]

Please keep in mind people - that unlike MANY/MOST other "professional" review websites - Our reviewers are 100% volunteer. HWC is a completely non-profit organization and has no paid positions. Everything you see is done, written and designed by people who do it for the love of the work and because they enjoy it.

Maybe an anonymous donor would be interested in paying for a full time editor, but until then I don't think you SHOULD expect the refined quality commonly associated with publications such as the New York Times.

Also keep in mind, while I am sure many see ways to improve a few articles, these reviewers aren't just writing a few, most have written dozens. It gets tedious attempting to make every single article sound pretty and 100% coherent - when you just want to get the facts out there. There is only such much time in a day and this is really a second job without the pay factor.

And everyone has their own unique literary techniques and certain people enjoy them. That is why dozens of different people have different feelings about books. Personally, I like the laid back, casual affair in many of the reviews, and get annoyed by hard technical documents found on many others. Or those who write in the style of Amon, with copious amounts of noun usage, over stylized Synonyms and annoying adjectives.

Sugar coating "the product failed to meet our expectations" with "a woefully inept product" doesn't make it a more enjoying read IMO, it makes it tedious for many to have to read through the lines to get at what your REALLY saying, which is that the product blows mad chunks

[chrisk]

Originally Posted by Squeetard

Hey, i was drunk last night.

Me too! Free Bud Light at the local pub (3 year pub anniversary), and I may have put a serious dent in them making it to year #4....

[Squeetard]

Originally Posted by FiXT

Please keep in mind people - that unlike MANY/MOST other "professional" review websites - Our reviewers are 100% volunteer. HWC is a completely non-profit organization and has no paid positions. Everything you see is done, written and designed by people who do it for the love of the work and because they enjoy it.

Maybe an anonymous donor would be interested in paying for a full time editor, but until then I don't think you SHOULD expect the refined quality commonly associated with publications such as the New York Times.

Also keep in mind, while I am sure many see ways to improve a few articles, these reviewers aren't just writing a few, most have written dozens. It gets tedious attempting to make every single article sound pretty and 100% coherent - when you just want to get the facts out there. There is only such much time in a day and this is really a second job without the pay factor.

And everyone has their own unique literary techniques and certain people enjoy them. That is why dozens of different people have different feelings about books. Personally, I like the laid back, casual affair in many of the reviews, and get annoyed by hard technical documents found on many others. Or those who write in the style of Amon, with copious amounts of noun usage, over stylized Synonyms and annoying adjectives.

Sugar coating "the product failed to meet our expectations" with "a woefully inept product" doesn't make it a more enjoying read IMO, it makes it tedious for many to have to read through the lines to get at what your REALLY saying, which is that the product blows mad chunks

Here here! Well said.

I'm actually not trying to jump on the OP for his opinion, just the pretentious, I'm better than you (probably not his intention either, that's how i read it) way in which he did it.

[gingerbee]

get'em squeetard ( damn i just feed this thread)
ha ha

[SKYMTL]

I like seeing criticism as much as I love seeing people defending. As Editor, I'm not turning a blind eye to these comments and I am actually glad this is happening since every now and then criticism can lead to great discussion that will actually lead the changes people want.

I understand the points that have been made and the fact that everyone here is doing this on a part time basis really makes no difference to me. I'd rather publish less reviews and bring them up to the quality that people expect rather than release 4 reviews a week and have people roll their eyes.

[Thund3rball]

I am not opposed to criticism. Since my job is in a creative role I have to deal with it all the time. And in the end what matters is not how much I like what I produce, but how well it is received by its audience (or my boss lol). As SKY said, Amon has huge balls for posting this. In reality you can always improve on what you do. So maybe it is worth it for the staff to look at his comments seriously and see if there are ways to improve on their fantastic work for HWC.

I understand it is all volunteer. I always check HWC first. It's Canadian, they do not write advertorials and the writers are very knowledgeable and thorough in their work. I am not sure what sites can actually compare with only volunteers staffing it. They don't get enough credit really. Thanks guys!

[Soultribunal]

I would like to say a small excerpt.

I am a News Poster for HWC.
I find the hot of the press kinda stuff and put it into my own words with my own thoughts.
Even in these small excerpts , its hard to not repeat ones self with certain literations and descriptive wording looking at say, one PSU to the Next.
I find that I am not Biased by any means. I have looked at many different manufacturers with equal eye and made my thoughts known when I write.
If there was a bias here, I highly doubt I would be allowed the freedom I have to write even the little excerpts I do.

I do agree that it is sometimes warranted for posts such as this to perhaps bring about a fresh realization, and to quench some misconceptions.
I stand by what I do, and I feel the reviews here know their stuff.

Regards,
ST

[chrisk]

I have no problems giving feedback as long as its done in a polite manner. If I feel something is missing, I'll make a suggestion in the thread for the article, and if I want to correct grammar, spelling, writing style, I'll try to remember to send a PM